Fans of the big blue meters of McIntosh Labs were pleased down to their well-heeled, toe-tapping, polished wingtips during the Vancouver Audio Festival at Hi-Fi Centre as the the crew had curated three separate systems with the big American iron pushing their needles far over to the right in service to the music.

Primephonic, one of the two music streaming services devoted exclusively to classical music, announced on May 1 that its iOS and Android customers can now use the Primephonic phone/pad app to download tracks to play offline without need of an internet connection or cellular data.

When you live in a city like Vancouver that has a number of bricks-and-mortar hi-fi shops, it’s easy to forget that not everyone can hop in car, climb on a bus or a train and check out world-class gear within 20 minutes of their home.

The tears were starting to roll down my cheeks at the Vancouver Audio Festival Friday night – not because of any sadness – because of the ongoing bouts of deep, rolling belly laughs I was having while connecting with some old friends and new at Hi-Fi Centre during the celebrations at the start of their third annual audiophile and music lovers get together.

I remember the voice of Roy Rogers coming from the bottom of my parent’s television set. Bing Crosby sang from behind the grill-cloth of their colossal wood radio. The Beatles shouted through holes in the top of my ’63 Chevy dashboard. Those Beatles sounded small.

The Vancouver Audio Festival is back for a third year in a row April 26th and 27th with host Hi-Fi Centre promising to deliver more of everything that owner Igor Kivritsky and his staff have brought to this West Coast audio experience since the Chester Group left the city.